Monthly Update: August 2020

Researchers from the University of British Columbia’s HiLo Lab have developed and prototyped zippered wood, which allows wood members to curve, allowing exciting new design possibilities. To create zippered wood, the research team cuts a 2×4 into two pieces with a toothed pattern on each side. The teeth enable the wood to bend and twist when the two pieces are rejoined. The team modeled the results and wrote software protocols to map tooth patterns to specific curvatures. The team also built and exhibited two full-scale prototypes on the UBC campus. Initial testing suggests that the resultant bent and joined members are stronger than straight studs.

Read more and view photographs of the attractive results here.

Google recently announced its latest round of housing investments in the San Francisco Bay Area, which are aimed at building approximately 24,000 homes over the next decade. Investments include the creation of a $50 million Launch Initiative fund, administered by San Jose–based Housing Trust Silicon Valley, that will invest in 4,000 affordable homes, and new investment in Vallejo-based modular housing builder Factory OS. With funding from Google, Factory OS will build a second factory that will enable it to double its home production.

These investments are part of a larger $1 billion commitment by Google in housing. While the majority of the commitment’s value is in donated land, Google has awarded $115 million to organizations working to create new homes and $7.75 million to those helping the homeless.

Read more about Google’s investments here.

A warehouse built out of mass timber is under construction in the city of Langford on Vancouver Island, a first-of-its-kind application of mass timber in Canada. The warehouse, which is scheduled to be complete this summer, will become the third mass timber project in the city. According to Mayor Stew Young, Langford “is always looking for innovative projects that can be built quickly.” In addition to liking mass timber’s fast and therefore cost-efficient build times, Langford leaders also appreciate mass timber as an expression of support for British Columbia’s forestry sector and communities. This project’s success could be a wood solution to address the significant conversion opportunity in warehouse projects in the U.S.

Read more about the project here.

NAHB recently highlighted how mass timber can play an important role in solving America’s affordable-housing crisis. Irrespective of the current economic downturn, the United States was already in the midst of a severe and growing housing shortfall. Multifamily housing is a turnkey segment that can solve the problem and meet housing demand. In NAHB’s view, mass timber is especially suited to—and especially efficient at—creating high-quality multifamily buildings. Mass timber is prefabricated offsite to specification and installed onsite by much smaller crews than traditional construction sites have. Mass timber’s weight, performance values, and sustainable nature create multiple benefits for builders, designers, and consumers alike.

Read more from NAHB here.

In early August, Pro Remodeler convened eight industry and subject-matter experts in an online Remodeling Mastery forum to discuss how the home-improvement and remodeling industries are faring during the pandemic and associated economic downturn. Both industries are performing considerably better than many others and are experiencing surging demand following an initial period of consumer caution.

Not surprisingly, the resiliency of these industries at this time is driven by people spending more time at home and expecting to occupy the same home indefinitely. According to Google analytics, while all home-improvement project types are seeing growth in demand compared with 2019, outdoor living, decking, and fencing are leading the way.

Access the forum here.

Fast + Epp’s four-story mass timber hybrid office building in Vancouver has been completed after only four weeks of construction. The building features CLT floor and wall panels, glulam beams, and steel posts as well as aesthetically pleasing exposed timber throughout its interior.

The building also features Tectonus devices, an earthquake-resistance technology being used for the first time in North America, to offer shock absorbency during quakes.

Read more about the building here.

Seattle firm B+H Architects recently submitted renderings of a new West Seattle High-Rise Bridge made of mass timber and steel to the city and the Washington State Department of Transportation. The current bridge, which opened in 1984 and carries more than 100,000 vehicles a day, was closed by inspectors in March because of new and existing cracks in the bridge’s support structure.

B+H Architects specified mass timber so that the new bridge can be more sustainable and be built faster, cheaper, and more durably than if using concrete. B+H also proposes sourcing the project’s mass timber locally to support Seattle’s once thriving timber industry.

Read more about B+H Architects’ proposal here.

Hines, Capitol Broadcasting Co., and USAA Real Estate recently announced plans to develop a 700,000-square-foot mixed-use project in downtown Durham, N.C., starting in late 2021 or early 2022. The development will include two Hines T3 creative office buildings and a 14-story residential building. T3—which stands for Timber, Transit, and Technology—will use all-timber construction and will be the first of its kind in the local market.

Since its inaugural T3 building was erected in Minneapolis in 2016, Hines has replicated its design package in a growing number of markets. In addition to in Durham, Hines recently broke ground on the 10-story, 251,000-square-foot T3 Bayside building in Toronto along its eastern waterfront. The T3 Bayside tower, which will be one of two identical mass timber buildings, marks the initiation of Bayside Toronto’s approximately 500,000-square-foot workplace component.

Read more about T3’s upcoming Durham development here and the Toronto development here.